POROUS POLYMER RODS AS CHROMATOGRAPHIC OR REACTIVE MEDIA

该延续提案旨在设计、制备和测试“模制”整体分离介质，其具有全新的形状和形式，可补充当前基于珠粒的包装材料，并为生物活性分子的研究、检测、分离和分离提供新的和无与伦比的能力。这些新的分离介质基于直接模制到分离装置的壳体中的大孔聚合物的连续体，而不是由机械填充到柱中的小珠制成。“模制”介质提供了许多优点，例如易于制备和处理、紧凑性、增强的再现性、分离化学的多功能性以及结合化学梯度的能力。模塑介质由单相制备，允许使用许多不能用于制备常规珠的单体。与填充柱相比，整料的制备简单、无废物且劳动强度较低，从而导致每个装置的单位成本较低。柱特性的显著改善预计源自重新设计的多孔结构，其具有大孔体积和整体结构内的高孔连通性。分离化学的多功能性和整体结合能力将通过使用原位“活性”聚合技术在整料的孔内接枝活性链来进一步增强。这些新的模制整料除了通过内置的传输孔显著增强的传质之外，还包括具有改善的连通性的较小的孔，并提供具有显著提高的效率的分离装置如柱和毛细管。总的来说，我们的目标是大大加强可用于处理生物样品的分析和诊断工具的阵列。在该项目框架内开发的新介质将有助于提高高效液相色谱、毛细管电色谱和微通道“芯片实验室”分离等领域的性能和新能力。模制系统无与伦比的多功能性及其独特的功能使其成为开发各种产品的理想选择，这些产品专门用于以前所未有的分离模式使用毛细管电色谱和芯片实验室格式对生物聚合物进行高通量分离。

This continuation proposal is aimed at the design, preparation, and testing of "molded" monolithic separation media in entirely new shapes and formats that complement current bead-based packing materials and provide new and unmatched capabilities for the study, detection, isolation, and separation of biologically active molecules. These new separation media are based on a continuous body of macroporous polymer molded directly into the housing of the separation device rather than made of small beads mechanically packed into the column. The "molded" media offer many advantages such as ease of preparation and handling, compactness, enhanced reproducibility, versatility of separation chemistries, and capability of incorporate gradients of chemistry. The molded media are prepared from a single phase allowing the use of many monomers that cannot be used for the preparation of conventional beads. In contrast to packed columns, the preparation of monoliths is simple, waste-free, and less labor intensive, leading to a low unit cost per device. Dramatic improvements in the column characteristics are expected to originate from the redesigned porous structures with both a large pore volume and a high connectivity of pores within the monolithic structure. The versatility of separation chemistries and the overall binding capacities will be further enhanced by the grafting of active chains within the pores of the monoliths using in situ "living" polymerization techniques. These new molded monoliths will, in addition to remarkably enhanced mass transfer through the built-in transport pores, include smaller pores with improved connectivity and afford separation devices such as columns and capillaries with substantially increased efficiencies. Overall, our targets are to significantly enhance the array of analytical and diagnostic tools available for handling biological samples. The new media developed within the framework of this project will contribute to both better performance and new capabilities in areas such as high- performance liquid chromatography, capillary electrochromatography, and microchannel "lab-on-chip" separations. The unequaled versatility of the molded systems and their unique features make them ideal for the development of a broad range of products specifically designed for the high throughput separation of biopolymers using capillary electrochromatography and laboratory-on-chip formats in unprecedented separation modes.